lernerj's Full Review: Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
Based on what I know of Atwood's previous work, this book is a quite different topic for her. I've read two of her earliest novels (The Edible Woman and Surfacing), a late 80s piece (Cat's Eye), and her most famous work, The Handmaid's Tale. These books are centrally focused on gender and women's changing roles and experiences in the changing late twentieth century (or in the imagined future, in the case of The Handmaid's Tale). In contrast, Alias Grace, though about a woman, is a murder mystery set in the past. History buffs will be interested to know that the story is Atwood's fictionalization of a real case, the known facts of which she reconstructed from newspapers and other documents.
Grace immigrates from Europe to Canada as a young girl, first taking care of her siblings and then, when she is a young teen, being sent out to work as a house servant. Someone is murdered at the house Grace works at, and when we first meet Grace, she is in jail accused of the murder. As the book unfolds we meet the Grace in jail and learn about her current situation and the various people who have taken an interest in her case. Through all of their eyes and through Grace's own flashback memories we gradually discover what happened while Grace worked at this house and whether or not Grace is actually guilty of murder. Through Atwood's descriptions we also get a glimpse of the nature of women's work in the period, much as you would from watching the mother slave away on the recent reality show "The 1900 House."
The book is organized around the suspense of discovering, bit by bit, what actually went on. This makes it quite a page-turner, and I enjoyed it very much along the way. Atwood is an excellent writer, and the book is surprisingly well constructed for suspense considering that this is not her usual form. In the end, however, and despite the excellent read all the way through, I found myself a bit disappointed with the ending. I had figured it out about 2/3 of the way through, and this is quite unusual for me (I'm normally not that smart!). Suspecting in advance made the final revelation less exciting. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the book immensely and would very much recommend it despite this weakness.
For those who enjoy Alias Grace, I would also recommend Toni Morrison's recent book Paradise. While in some ways it is very different, it is similar in that it's about a relatively isolated group of people and unfolds as you gradually find out "whodunnit" and why. Morrison's is a considerably harder to read (she has a denser writing style than Atwood's) and focuses much more on social commentary than does Atwood, but I found it just as much a page-turner despite the extra difficulty.
In Alias Grace, bestselling author Margaret Atwood has written her most captivating, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying work since The Handmaid's T...More at Barnes & Noble.com
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